[Risay_335d]

Some advice needed please folks.

I've bought a 3 series and the previous owner had an aftermarket sub and amp , I want to get rid of this as the car has harmen karden anyway.

My question is if I'm not bothered about saving the cabling will it be ok to just disconnect the amp, remove the fuse near the battery and cut / hide any of the cables? My worry is I don't know what the aftermarket amps rca cables are wired to? If it's just to behind the head unit can I just leave those plugged in?

Could the cables be linked to the harmen karden speakers / amp somehow?

[Billfitz]

Chances are the amp input is connected to one, or perhaps both, of the underseat woofers, as there are no RCA connections on the H-K amp to pull the signal from. Another possibility is a harness at the H-K amp. The least likely possibility is anything connected directly to the head unit. The only way to find out is to back track the cabling.

[Risay_335d]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Chances are the amp input is connected to one, or perhaps both, of the underseat woofers, as there are no RCA connections on the H-K amp to pull the signal from. Another possibility is a harness at the H-K amp. The least likely possibility is anything connected directly to the head unit. The only way to find out is to back track the cabling.

Thanks for the response

Any idea how easy it is to get access under the rear seat?

[Billfitz]

I can't say, never had a reason to pull mine.

[Phil @ Integral Audio]

If you're looking to trace and actually remove the cables instead of leaving them in (Something I'd personally, ultimately feel better about) it might be helpful to pick up some basic hand tools to help remove trim or panels and get access to the under the carpeting where the the cables are likely run.

If you search 'bone trim tool' and or 'trim / panel tools' you'll find lots of simple and cheap hand tools to pull trim without doing damage - they help a lot and good thing to have around anyway IMO. Amazon is a great place to pick up a kit if you're interested.

Rear seats should come up pretty easily as well but it is a bit weird the first time you do it (did this just the other day in another model we were doing an install in). I'm sure you can find a couple youtube videos that will show you where to grab / pull to get them out. Once you figure out how they're in there you'll be able to pull them and put them back in with confidence.

Always a bit weird pulling trim and removing seats if you've never done it before, but once you jump in and get started its surprisingly easy to do and if you're careful you won't damage anything. I'm sure you could trace / remove all the cables in an afternoon if you wanted.

[Risay_335d]

Originally Posted by Phil @ Integral Audio

If you're looking to trace and actually remove the cables instead of leaving them in (Something I'd personally, ultimately feel better about) it might be helpful to pick up some basic hand tools to help remove trim or panels and get access to the under the carpeting where the the cables are likely run.

If you search 'bone trim tool' and or 'trim / panel tools' you'll find lots of simple and cheap hand tools to pull trim without doing damage - they help a lot and good thing to have around anyway IMO. Amazon is a great place to pick up a kit if you're interested.

Rear seats should come up pretty easily as well but it is a bit weird the first time you do it (did this just the other day in another model we were doing an install in). I'm sure you can find a couple youtube videos that will show you where to grab / pull to get them out. Once you figure out how they're in there you'll be able to pull them and put them back in with confidence.

Always a bit weird pulling trim and removing seats if you've never done it before, but once you jump in and get started its surprisingly easy to do and if you're careful you won't damage anything. I'm sure you could trace / remove all the cables in an afternoon if you wanted.

Thanks , that's really useful , I'll get myself those tools.

I started today and took the seat base out, finding it difficult to put it back in mind you.

Those tools will really help though with trim so I'll take a look

[Onizukachan]

If you disco fuse you can jsut leave the wiring in. warp the pwoer wire amd rem wire with tape or heatshrink over the ends.

[Risay_335d]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

If you disco fuse you can jsut leave the wiring in. warp the pwoer wire amd rem wire with tape or heatshrink over the ends.

Yeah it's more on the other side I.e what the amp is connected to aside from the power so I know if it's linked to the existing HArmen karden system

The power side I can easily disconnect.

[Onizukachan]

It doesn’t nmatter what it grabbing signal from, honestly. And I wouldn’t be put pulling panels in the cold, as you are more likely to damage them.

[ATL_Nak-Muay]

What did the previous owner us to tie in? Lc2 or a jl cleansweep? I started putting my extras in but it seems tapped the incorrectly

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Risay_335d

Some advice needed please folks.

I've bought a 3 series and the previous owner had an aftermarket sub and amp , I want to get rid of this as the car has harmen karden anyway.

My question is if I'm not bothered about saving the cabling will it be ok to just disconnect the amp, remove the fuse near the battery and cut / hide any of the cables? My worry is I don't know what the aftermarket amps rca cables are wired to? If it's just to behind the head unit can I just leave those plugged in?

Could the cables be linked to the harmen karden speakers / amp somehow?

The HK amplifier is in the trunk in the left alcove. If the aftermarket amplifier has RCA cables, it may be connected to an aftermarket LOC that is connected to the HK amplifier wiring. If you are lucky they didn't splice into the BMW wiring. There are plug and play wiring harnesses like from Technicpnp that could have been used.

Does it look like the amp was being used to just power an aftermarket sub in the trunk? Where exactly are they located? The trunk floor panels are the easiest thing to just lift up to try to trace what's happening with the added wiring.